* Crain’s got something new out of the governor today…

But with Illinois not yet luring big facilities such as those recently announced in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and other states, Illinois could use a big deal-closing fund, Pritzker said—essentially a pot of money the governor is empowered to dip into to sweeten economic development deals when the competition with other states is tight. “Michigan has, I believe, a $1 billion fund. They can just write a check,” he said. “It would be great if we had a closing fund in Illinois.”

Pritzker’s apparent reference was to Michigan’s Strategic Outreach & Attraction Reserve Fund, which can provide grants or loans for “infrastructure improvements, capital investments, acquisition of machinery and job training.” Officials there say the fund has been a major success.

Asked if he’ll ask Illinois lawmakers to authorize such a fund—Texas created such a program decades ago—Pritzker suggested it would depend on whether the state has an available budget surplus.

* Jim Rapp…

State law has long provided that when a constitutional amendment is on the ballot, the secretary of state is to send out a pamphlet explaining the proposal. This is the Illinois Constitutional Amendment Act (5 ILCS 20/0.01).

Among the requirements under the law are that the Secretary of State publish a pamphlet with the proposal along with an explanation of the amendment. Important, too, is a requirement that the pamphlet include arguments both for and against the amendment to better inform voters.

State law also requires the Secretary of State to mail the pamphlet to every mailing address in the state. Yes, the official pamphlet itself. […]

Illinois law was amended (5 ILCS 20/2(f)) to provide that for any proposed constitutional amendment appearing on the Nov. 8 ballot that the pamphlet would not be sent out. Instead, the Secretary of State was directed to instead mail a postcard advising that “a proposed constitutional amendment” will be considered. A URL (or for the non-techie, a Uniform Resource Locator) to a state website then is provided to access the pamphlet.

This special provision was tucked in the FY2023 Budget Implementation Act (Public Act 102-699). The bill was 544 pages long. This only applies to the upcoming election. […]

The postcard doesn’t even say that the amendment relates to our Bill of Rights. It only says “a proposed constitutional amendment” will be voted upon.

Man, when Local 150 wants something…

* Screen shot of Darren Bailey’s new TV ad…

With a hat tip to a reader, the person on the left is Grundy County Sheriff Kenneth Briley. The Anti-Defamation League analyzed a large list of Oath Keepers members and Briley turned up on that list. From the Rockford Register-Star…

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “the Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, they explicitly focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first-responder personnel.”

Oath Keepers were among the individuals and groups who forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. […]

For the time being, the ADL is only releasing the names of public officials. Other public Illinois officials named include Lewistown Mayor Doug Lafary and Grundy County Sheriff Kenneth Briley.

Data compiled by the ADL showed Illinois has 883 Oath Keeper members.

* Statewide vote by mail totals…

The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (10/12/22):
Total VBM requested: 684,021
Total VBM returned: 64,363
Total VBM outstanding: 619,658
Return Rate: 9%
Total Early Vote: 24,773
Total Grace Period: 6
Total Already Voted: 89,142https://t.co/44ga6AOUdY

— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) October 12, 2022

Chicago Board of Elections…

Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Tuesday, October 11, 2022.

The Early Vote total stands at 1,050 ballots cast.

Additionally, 3,712 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 166,151.

The grand total is 4,762 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.

That means Chicago VBM is just 5.8 percent of the statewide total. Not a great start.

* We already knew the Gannett thing, but James Norman comes up with another tidbit…

Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, has taken on as a client a group of controversial conservative publications run by Republican insider Dan Proft, a few weeks after the publications lost their previous printing deal. […]

Postage permits printed on some recent LGIS publications also show The Mail House Inc., out of Mount Prospect, sent some out, a USPS spokesman wrote in an email. An official with The Mail House Inc. on Tuesday said they had no comment.

The Post-Dispatch weighs in on Gannett…

The last thing the news industry needs is to have its biggest print publisher, Gannett, participate in the actual production of fake news. In Illinois, Gannett is accepting money to publish fake newspapers that manufacture coverage helping GOP candidates. The fake newspapers carry names like the “West Cook News” and “Chicago City Wire.” They appear to be the handiwork of a Florida-based right-wing activist, Dan Proft, who has taken particular aim at incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Proft was an Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2010 and has a current talk show on a conservative radio network. […]

Gannett, which also publishes the non-trustworthy Epoch Times, remains silent about such printing contracts. Profiting off operations that help undermine real journalism is abhorrent, no matter how much Gannett needs the money.

* The Republican nominee for DuPage County Board Chair on abortion, via WBBM Radio…

Greg Hart, the Republican candidate for DuPage County Board, said there’s very little the board can do involving abortions, and he downplayed the issue. Democratic rival and state Rep. Deb Conroy, though, said the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade has driven many people to the polls.

“[Roe v. Wade] being overturned by the federal Supreme Court has really triggered people in DuPage County because in Illinois, we are a bastion for being able to trust women to make their own health care decisions,” [The Democratic nominee Rep. Deb Conroy] said.

Still, she agreed the county doesn’t directly drive policy on abortion.

Hart, a current board member, refused to let himself be lumped together with the more conservative members of his party on this issue. He said as the father of a daughter, he has concerns about rolling back any rights, and added that he would not stand in the way of women’s health care.

“There is nothing I will do as county board chairman to restrict a woman’s right to choose, and I’ll always support women’s health initiatives,” Hart said.

But, as the far-right Illinois Family Action points out, this has not always been the case…

In fact, as recently as 2018, chameleon Hart responded to a survey from Illinois Right to Life Action that he opposed the legal right of women to choose to have their sons and daughters killed in their wombs. Was Hart lying then, or has he devolved?

Hart, meanwhile, is sending out campaign text messages from his spouse…

* More…

* Casten backs committee investigating Jan. 6 attack; Pekau accuses members of grandstanding: Additionally, even though witnesses have testified at length about the attack and much video evidence has been shared, Pekau argued the committee hasn’t yet presented any results.